It’s the biggest event in coffee, sponsored by the biggest names in coffee, held in what is probably America’s most coffee-obsessed city. It’s every coffee nerd’s dream, and seven of our team from Thanksgiving Coffee Company had the opportunity to attend this year. The Global Coffee Expo is a three day event with all the players in the coffee industry, put on by the Specialty Coffee Association. Roasting, importing, producing, farming, equipment, ideas, publications – there is so much to see and do at this convention.

Above: The SCA logo on cupping mugs at the Global Coffee Expo

Stepping into the launch party on night one was an experience all in itself. At the Paramount Theatre in downtown Seattle, thousands of coffee professionals from all over the world flooded the floors. There was a virtual reality farm tour, a video from the board of the SCA, cold brew samples from Starbucks, a latte art throwdown, and networking with some of the most prominent people in coffee. It was overwhelming and spectacular — and a great way to kick off an exciting weekend.

The Specialty Coffee Association turns 35 this year. The years that have gone by have changed the association in many ways, but it remains at its core, a place for people to come together and fight for the greater good of everyone involved in the coffee industry. Thanksgiving Coffee’s Co-Founder and CEO Paul Katzeff was part of the team that founded the SCAA back in 1982, and has been an integral part of the association (and its president twice) through the decades.

Above: Paul Katzeff at the Global Coffee Expo launch party

The weekend was of course a whirlwind, full of lectures, meetings, walking the Expo floor, and naturally, lots of coffee breaks! We tasted coffee from Kenya, Colombia, Ethiopia, Uganda, Nicaragua, India, and many more origins. We met old friends and new, listened to lectures from coffee professionals, and visited our Fairtrade certification.

One of the main highlights of these conventions is the opportunity to meet with our producers – the human beings behind the coffee farms. Throughout the year, we speak with these folks over email and telephone, but at rare moments like these, we’re able to spend time with them face to face. We get to catch up on life and family and learn how their farms and co-ops are doing. We got some fun shots with a few of our friends:

Above: the SOPACDI co-op team from the Democratic Republic of Congo with the Thanksgiving Coffee team from Fort Bragg, California

Above: Jacob Long, Roastmaster and Director of Coffee at Thanksgiving Coffee, and Lucas Silvestre of the Guayab Co-op in Guatemala

Above: Fatima Ismael of SOPPEXCCA in Nicaragua, Joan Katzeff of Thanksgiving Coffee and Nicholas Hoskyns of Etico in Nicaragua

We here at Thanksgiving Coffee want to give a HUGE thank you to the volunteer team that worked so hard at the Global Coffee Expo. Conventions like these simply cannot happen without the help of volunteers, and we are all indebted to you!

Take a peek below at some of the fun we had while in Seattle at the Specialty Coffee Association convention. After the Roasters Guild mixers, morning presentations, photo booth fun, and walking tens of thousands of steps across the show floor, we are going to need the rest of the week to rest and catch up.

The Thanksgiving Coffee team at Global Coffee Expo, with Nicholas of Nicaragua, and Isak of Rwanda

In a world getting short on water, coffee lovers should begin to get their palates ready to recognize “Dry Processed” or “Naturals” when they buy coffee.

Naturals are processed from cherry to green bean without the customary water de-pulping and subsequent water bath. In the dry process, coffee cherries are dried with their skins and pulp intact.

The cherries are placed in the sun on concrete patios or raised drying beds. The skins tighten as they dry and the pulp juices move inward into the two seed in the cherry’s interior. When the mass is totally dry and crisp, and hard as a rock, they are milled like rice, cleaned and sorted and sacked.

This process produces quite a different flavor profile from wet processed “washed coffee.” The coffees take on the hints of the fruit and at their best, notes of blueberry and strawberry prevail. There is a jammy sensitivity to the brew, lots of body and fruit aromas.

Of course, these great flavors disappear in the darker roasts. We roast naturals, both light and medium, depending on the initial intensity of the fruit flavors.

This month we are featuring two “naturals.” One is from Ethiopia and received a 91 rating from Coffee Review. The other is from one of our favorite coffee farmers in Nicaragua, Byron Corrales, and received a 94 rating.

Byron began experimenting with naturals about 6 years ago. He was the first to master the art in Nicaragua and his naturals are a tad more balanced and a bit less fruity than the Ethiopians, but the jam is there as are the sweet berry flavors.

One of my favorite blending concepts is to blend naturals with washed coffees. In fact, Paul’s Blend is just that.

Byron Corrales is a visionary farmer, campesino leader, and pioneer in the application of biodynamic farming practices to coffee production. Twice he’s won top honors for this magical coffee: Maracaturra, a special variety found only on his small family farm in Nicaragua.

Last year, Byron began processing a small amount of this special coffee using the natural process: sun-drying the coffee cherries to develop a rich, fruity flavor notes. This coffee received a rating of 94 points from CoffeeReview.com!

The coffee is a unique hybrid of the heirloom varietals Maragoype and Caturra (Bourbon). It was developed and is grown exclusively by Byron Corrales for Thanksgiving Coffee Company. It is a truly exceptional coffee that’s more akin to its cousins in the highlands of East Africa than its neighbors in Central America.

Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center (SMBC) certification is another step we are taking at Thanksgiving Coffee to verify that the coffees we purchase and co-brand with them are truly coming from farmers who support and maintain “Bird Friendly” habitat on their farms .

The SMBC certification is “the undisputed “Gold Standard” when assessing forest habitat for the quality of its ability to support not just birds, but all the species that live and make their home in a particular indigenous forest . The standards that the Smithsonian scientists have set are based on rigorous research into the nature of the forest itself, its remaining over-story size and density, its type of remaining trees, the numbers of levels of “over-story” and how our coffee agriculture has been integrated into the original Habitat.

At the heart of the certification is the absolute of no use of oil based Fertilizers, pesticides or herbicides. The coffee farm must first be Certified Organic before it can begin the SMBC certification assessment process.

Thanksgiving Coffee is a certified organic Roastery. We follow strict rules set by USDA . About 85 % of our coffees we purchase are Certified organic, but as of this writing only our coffees from Guatemala (Guaya’b Cooperative) and from Nicaragua (Byron Corrales’ Family Farm) are SMBC Certified. These coffees represent only 15% of our Roastings at this time.

After meeting with SMBC scientists in May of this year in Washington DC (Their offices are located at the National Zoo) we set up a plan to have each cooperative we buy from in Nicaragua, Mexico, Costa Rica, Bolivia, Peru, Uganda, and Rwanda, assessed for the “Bird Friendly” certification. Where farms are organic but lack the shade standards needed for the SMBC certification, we will work with the cooperative’s Board leadership to put forest restoration practices in place to enable certification. One by one these farm habitats will be certified.

Our goal is to have 85 % of our coffees SMBC Certified by 2020.

With collaboration and help from The Smithsonian Outreach program for coffee farms we hope to bring a wide range of coffee farms into this Gold Standard certification. Our relationship with the leadership of the SMBC is a close one. We see this as strong support for The American Birding Association Songbird Coffee we sell under a licensing agreement we have had since 1996. Their members, who focus on their love of and protection of migratory songbirds, depend upon the science of the SMBC for their assurance that the money they spend on coffee is being spent in the name of protecting them, and we at Thanksgiving Coffee mean to assure our Songbird followers that the highest level of awareness goes into the coffee they drink each morning, and that the birds out there are able to feed their young, build their homes and fatten up enough to make their amazing migrations each year.

Sincerely,Paul KatzeffCo-Founder & CEO
Roastmaster Emeritus

Try Song Bird Coffee

These coffees benefit the American Birding Association, which works to inspire people to enjoy and protect wild birds through publications, conferences, workshops, tours, partnerships, & networks.

Adventures at Origin: Nicaragua

Jacob Long, Nicholas Hoskyns, and I (Jonah Katzeff) traveled together from March 23rd-27th. We visited first and second level coffee cooperatives that produce approximately 25% of our annual green coffee purchases. We cupped and selected our Nicaraguan coffees for 2015, met with cooperative leaders and farmers, and visited beautiful coffee farms.

We were received warmly everywhere. I am so grateful to the hundreds of hands that touch coffee, from the time it is picked to when it is exported. Our 2015 Nicaraguan coffees will be exceptional. The new harvest is now available now!

Turns into a bigger discussion on how to promote natural Nicaraguan coffee with a national event that would bring roasters and co-ops together. Pedro proposes working with the co-ops that were involved with the cupping labs.

More to come from this origin trip in our post about Day 3!

The green coffee sourcing team:

Nicholas (on right) is the Managing Director of Etico. He organized our visit and traveled with us throughout the week. Nicholas was born in England, but Nicaragua is his adopted home after spending almost 25 years there! Etico imports our coffees from Nicaragua as well as green coffees from Guatemala, Mexico, Rwanda, and Uganda.

Jacob (second from right) is the Director of Coffee Control and Roastmaster at Thanksgiving Coffee. He is responsible for developing the roast profiles of all our single origins, blends, and decafs. He approves all the green coffees we purchase and ensures that the coffee roasted at Thanksgiving is consistent roast after roast.

Jonah (on left) works in Business Development and as an Account Manger. He serves in a variety of roles that include green coffee sourcing, managing the San Francisco Bay Area accounts, and special projects, as assigned by Senior Management.

This coffee buying trip to Nicaragua marks the 30th year Thanksgiving Coffee has traveled to this beautiful country. It is also the first year that Thanksgiving Coffee is sending staff without the guidance and counseling of CEO Co-Founder Paul Katzeff.

The trip represents the “passing of the torch” to a new generation. It’s a generation that grew up with coffee as a medium for carrying the message of the people, their craftsmanship, and their hope for a better life through coffee cultivation.

Jacob and Jonah carried The Company message to the cooperatives that our mission, and the value we place on long term relationships, bridges generations. We are in this together, and prosperity for all is the common thread we value most.
– Paul Katzeff

Adventures at Origin: Nicaragua

Jacob Long, Nicholas Hoskyns, and I (Jonah Katzeff) traveled together from March 23rd-27th. We visited first and second level coffee cooperatives that produce approximately 25% of our annual green coffee purchases. We cupped and selected our Nicaraguan coffees for 2015, met with cooperative leaders and farmers, and visited beautiful coffee farms.

We were received warmly everywhere. I am so grateful to the hundreds of hands that touch coffee, from the time it is picked to when it is exported. Our 2015 Nicaraguan coffees will be exceptional. The new harvest will be available starting in late May.

DAY ONE

Solcafe and Byron Corrales’ farm visit

• We cupped the Solidaridad washed and dry-processed (natural) micro lots, along with Byron’s washed and dry-processed coffees in the morning at Solcafe- the dry mill that processes and exports coffees from first level cooperatives.

• Cecocafen is the second level cooperative that owns the dry mill and is the exporter for many first level cooperatives.

• They have constructed a new cupping lab that is much more spacious than the older one. It was interesting to see on this visit that three cupping labs had been moved to new locations.

• After lunch, Jacob and I toured Byron’s two farms with Byron and his daughter, Sara.

• Byron showed us the tree where Paul, Byron, and Arnulfo (Byron’s grandfather) first agreed to work together 22 years ago (in the photo at left).

• We learned about some of the biodynamic techniques Byron is applying to the land. Byron expressed that the 3 most important factors resulting in great coffee are: the producer/farmer, the quality of the soil, and the skill of the roaster.

• We also learned about some of the negative effects resulting from climate change on his coffee trees – fruit not ripening at all, or not ripening fully, and trees flowering now [end of March] when they typically flower in May.

• Byron is taking action now by replacing older trees with ones that are more resistant to climate change. He is also planting more shade trees to protect the coffee trees from the sun.

• He expressed concern that if changes are not made now, there may be a lot less coffee in the future.

• We visited a small grove of a variety of pine trees (7 total) that Byron smuggled back from Brazil. There are no other varieties of this pine in Nicaragua.

• We then returned to Byron’s farm called Finca de Los Pinos and said our goodbyes to Byron’s parents, and returned to Matagalpa for the evening.

• We enjoyed pizza with the Corrales family in Matagalpa!

This story will continue in our next post, so check back soon!

The green coffee sourcing team:

Nicholas (on right) is the Managing Director of Etico. He organized our visit and traveled with us throughout the week. Nicholas was born in England, but Nicaragua is his adopted home after spending almost 25 years there! Etico imports our coffees from Nicaragua as well as green coffees from Guatemala, Mexico, Rwanda, and Uganda.

Jacob (second from right) is the Director of Coffee Control and Roastmaster at Thanksgiving Coffee. He is responsible for developing the roast profiles of all our single origins, blends, and decafs. He approves all the green coffees we purchase and ensures that the coffee roasted at Thanksgiving is consistent roast after roast.

Jonah (on left) works in Business Development and as an Account Manger. He serves in a variety of roles that include green coffee sourcing, managing the San Francisco Bay Area accounts, and special projects, as assigned by Senior Management.

Two months ago, we helped to connect Molly Gore of the Bay Area Coffee Community with some of our partners at origin in Nicaragua. On her way back from coffee country, Molly wrote a beautiful letter back to our co-founder. We felt the post encapsulated many of the feelings that we have when we travel to origin, and so we asked if we could share her letter on our blog. Here it is, courtesy of Molly. Hope you enjoy!

Jan 28, 2013
Dear Paul,

Byron & Molly
photo courtesy Molly Gore, 2013

I’m writing you on my way out of Managua, lamenting leaving, and basking in an upwelling of inspiration. Rachel was a wonderful guide through coffee country. We carved our way into the mountains to Matagalpa, where I met Byron. Where I left my soul to steep. His vision is enrapturing, and kindred to a sensibility deep in my own heart. There is something about his farm that wraps you up, that feels important and prophetic. I’m still daydreaming of surrendering myself onto his land to work through the seasons. And then on to Jinotega. And Fatima! SOPPEXCCA! I’m so honored to have had the chance to speak with her. The more I ask about the mechanics of community development, about the roots of all these remarkable projects, the more it seems that she is at the bottom of the things I saw.

Before I came, I really had no idea how far SOPPEXCCA’s impact reached into the community, or even what a cooperative’s impact looked like.

SOPPEXCCA Beneficiophoto by Mischa Hedges, 2013

I’ve seen and heard about cooperative efforts failing when ideas come from the outside. And to see something different, SOPPEXCCA’s model, that is so solidly and effectively empowering, makes me want to yell and preach. It swells my faith to see success this way, to see the kind of culture born from a model like this. I learned so much about what has to be done to make impact last. And what struck me, unexpected, was the positive impact that rippled into lives of those who were not even members. The entire community. The co-op holds up so much more than just itself, I was amazed. Oh! And! A gender committee! To see its effect trickle so readily into projects and relationships, that was amazing.

We stayed with Antonio and Norma at Los Alpes on their farm for a night. They took us to the school, the store, we traipsed through their land, the wet mill, the gravity pump. Saw the cherries at the end of harvest, the rust. I heard their stories. And ate a hell of a lot of plantains. Visited the SOPPEXCCA cafe, was led through a cupping, and toured the beneficio and heard stories from the women’s workers’ cooperative.

It’s magic to see so much push behind their ideas, especially when machismo still runs so thick. They tell me how much they’ve changed, and their lives have changed, through capacitaciones and their own empowered movement.

Coffee Cherries in Nicaraguaphoto by Mischa Hedges, 2013

I’m so moved by the integrity here. It runs deep. I’m not sure what I expected, and I know I only saw a fraction of this world, and a highly positive side, but feeling that the culture of a place can actually shift, that a population can be lifted, sustainably supported when you get it right, and feeling the visions of poets who are the guardians of the earth, reminds me of what’s possible. The story is so abstract until you go. I told you I wanted to understand this relationship, between quality and empowerment. It’s still incredible to me that I have the opportunity to learn this way. And, at the same time, I realize there’s no other way.

I’ve seen the shape of the difference made on the ground, and I want to help. I’m working on the best way to proliferate all the information and heartchange that I’ve gleaned from this trip into the coffee community up here. Planning quite a bit of writing on it. I’m still working out my role in the scheme of things, I feel called as some kind of liaison, but I suppose this will take shape organically if it is supposed to as time goes on.

If anything, my responsibilities as a human are making themselves clearer, taking more concrete shape in a way.

Nicaraguan Coffee Countryphoto by Mischa Hedges, 2013

I apologize if this was lengthy, but I wanted to extend a grand thank you for introducing me to all this. If anything, my responsibilities as a human are making themselves clearer, taking more concrete shape in a way. And the amount of things I don’t know seems to grow larger the more I explore. But I suppose that’s a good thing. Please let me know what more I can do to support these projects, and the work that’s being done.

Thank you, from my heart. It’s a beautiful thing to see the kind of world that Thanksgiving Coffee nurtures. Whenever it is I see you next, I hope it’s soon. And always, thank you for the encouragement.

In Early February, 12 Thanksgiving Coffee staff, partners and friends traveled to Nicaragua to meet farmers and cooperatives, start new sustainability projects and select the best coffees for 2013.

We visited the cooperatives and farmers that we buy coffee from, picked coffee on a small farm, tried our hands at turning coffee on the drying patios, learned about many exciting sustainability projects and cupped some excellent coffees. In every encounter with our partners in Nicaragua, we participated in heartening conversations about coffee and sustainability, built and strengthened relationships, learned a tremendous amount about coffee and ourselves, and saw a glimpse of the future of coffee.

Each of us is looking forward to the next opportunity we have to connect with our friends in Nicaragua, and to sharing our stories here at home over an excellent cup of Nicaraguan coffee. As our partners at Six Degrees Coffee say, “Coffee Connects Us.” After this year’s trip to Nicaragua, we feel even more deeply connected to the people and places where our coffees are sourced from.
—> See more photos from our trip.

Many of our blends include beans from Nicaragua…here are a few that feature 90% or more Nicaraguan coffee:

Byron Martinez submitted this report and photographs from his farm north west of Matagalpa . He is probably the most noted organic coffee farmer in all of Nicaragua and is responsible for the introduction of organic coffee cultivation in Nicaragua. His award winning Maracaturra variety, which he and his father Arnolfo hybridized two decades ago is my favorite coffee and when it comes to flavor, is perhaps the worlds finest. Although his farm and family produce 150,000 pounds of fantastic organic coffees of traditional varieties, only 7500 pounds of Maracaturra are produced and we buy it all each year for the past 10 years. It will be available in June . Below is the original correspondence from me to him and his reply in both Spanish and English. Byron is not only a dynamic artisan biodynamic coffee farmer and former Sandanista revolutionary, but also a campacino (Peasant farmer) and scholar. Paul Katzeff

Here Byron inspects a coffee variety that ripens in yellow.

Hola Paul , We are just ending the crop for this year, everything has changed, the plants started to show their red beans in november,(very early) at this time we have flowers on the plants.

This year the 50% of our crop is natural proccess, This is the way to save money and oil, without pollude the waters. Is a coffee very creamy and chocolate, very delicious, I enjoy working in this way because it remains to my GrandFather , he used to work in this way too.

I am organazing two bags of coffee this year for you, this bags will contain coffee of differents moons, varieties, natural process cherry beans, and you will share with your friends a cup of coffee after each baseball game that you win. Greetings to all your family. Byron

THIS WAS MY LETTER TO HIM LAST WEEK :
2011/1/9

“Hello Byron, My love to your family . We are well and the company is still in Business after the fire back in July. Ben is now President ! I am retired from running operations. This is good. I am 73 . I have only a few good years left . I want to play Baseball more. I have a new team to play on called The Dirt Dogs ! I will be the starting catcher when we start our season in April. I am also studying guitar. I have played for many years but now I will be able to play in a band in another year , maybe even, in Nicagagua! My life is good. How about yours?”

Paul…..Here are some more coffee harvest photos taken by the farmer himself and digitally sent . Only ten years ago this communication would have taken 3 weeks and cost many unaffordable dollars.

Unlike grapes which ripen all at once, making harvest time just one picking, coffee cherries ripen over a 3 month harvest period . In Nicaragua that is from November to February.

Here is an example of how Byron controls bad insects wirh good insects. This relative of the praying mantis patrols the coffee plant looking for aliens from inner space. Such biodynamic insect control is Byron’s response to oil based insecticides. These cherries look like they enjoyed their season. I think the coffee will be spectacular in June when we get our shipment. PK

This business requires patience. From the time we taste a coffee sample to the time that coffee arrives at our door ready to be roasted can take several months. It’s especially difficult to be patient when the samples are really really really good.

This past Thursday was a big day for us here at Thanksgiving Coffee Company. Just after 8:00am a truck backed up to our loading dock full of sacks of new crop Nicaraguan coffee. These coffees are particularly special for us because our relationships in Nicaragua go back so many years. We don’t just buy from one cooperative there, we buy from three: Solidaridad de Aranjuez (our Joya de Aranjuez coffees), SOPPEXCCA (our Flor de Jinotega), PRODOCOOP (Dipilto coffee which serves as a backbone to many of our favorite blends and will be featured this year as a special single origin). We also buy from one small scale family farm owned by the Corrales family (Byron’s Maracaturra – a perennial favorite). The arrival of these coffees is thrilling because coffee, like many crops, is seasonal. We buy limited quantities of the highest quality each year and when these coffees run out, we have to wait for the next year’s harvest to arrive. We were all eagerly anticipating this delivery; especially our roasting team who was chomping at the bit to get these beans fired up and out the door to our loyal customers who, like us, know that the exceptional quality, complexity, and character of these distinct coffees are worth waiting for.

Towards the end of July, we’ll be celebrating the arrival of these Nicaraguan coffees as well as the balance of our Northern Hemisphere coffees (like Musasa, Rwanda) that are also recent arrivals to our dock. Keep an eye out for your invitation to party with us here at the warehouse.

Here are some pictures of how the day went: the arrival, unloading, sample roasting, staff cupping, and finally the beginning of production roasts.